Breaking News

Posted 7:58 PM by Amy Maurer

Special event on Thursday, May 2: "Endangered Mermaids" This video tells the story of the manatee in Florida through the eyes of the many people who study, care for, and rescue them. The film follows the rescue of two manatees stuck in a Cocoa Beach storm drain. Though most animals caught in storm drains do not survive, these manatees were transferred to Sea World for treatment and rehabilitation, then released. This is a powerful film about the animals Columbus once mistook for mermaids, but more importantly, a story about people who are working together towards a common goal to save a species from extinction. Produced by Oceanic Research Group, Inc. Photography by Jonathan Bird.

Posted 10:01 AM by Freddie

Divers delight in former stew of waste | csmonitor.com This is an interesting story that appears in the Moreover Scuba News that regularly appears on our front page. If you haven't bothered to scroll down and take a peak, you are missing a lot that the web jhas to offer to divers!

Posted 9:20 AM by Freddie

Maybe you heard... they found human remains in a big ole shark down under... video

Posted 8:25 AM by Freddie

The Sunday morning dive was a great success yesterday. Roslyn Smith, Amy Maurer, Daryl Findlay, Paul Sauvageau, John Ferrier, Steve Levy and I all assembled at the place formerly known as Burger King at 9AM.

After surveying the rough seas at Old Garden Beach, the group, minus Steve, relocated to the Amelia's site, where the exposure is more protected and conditions were found to be more acceptable. After gearing up in the parking lot, we descended on the order counter, and then dove into our brunch. We observed green leafy lettuce, tuna, and some strange, belly-less clams. It was an extended, leisurely, comfortable dive; our bottom time was nearly 4 hours. After an extended surface interval in the parking lot, we considered a second dive at "Chinese Woks." But, realizing the amount of "ongassing" that occurred on the first dive, we reconsidered, and went home.

Posted 4:03 PM by Freddie

March was a good month for the web site. We had over 3,000 hits, with visitors from Hungary, Italy and Japan, along with a whole slew of American and Canadian locations. Interestingly, more people are using Netscape than Internet Explorer. (I just don't know why!) and of course Windows 98 is the dominant platform.

Posted 10:33 PM by Amy Maurer

On April 18th, underwater photographer Jonathan Bird will present a
slide presentation on diving the most remote of the Galapagos
Islands: Darwin Island. Known as one of the best places to see
really big whale sharks, Jonathan spent a week there on an expedition
to tag whale sharks in October 2001. In addition to the largest fish
in the sea, Jonathan photographed hundreds of hammerheads, eagle
rays, sea lions, blue-footed boobies, dolphins and other incredible
critters. Don't miss this exciting presentation on the ultimate big
animal dive! Join him at 8:00 at the Franco American Club in Beverly.

Posted 2:04 PM by Freddie

Something's wrong with our moon pictures, but it seems to be web wide. I'll look into it more later this weekend :-(

Posted 6:45 PM by Roslyn

Reminder: Froggie Easter Egg Hunt (underwater, of course) and Party at the Carvalho's Sunday, 4/14. E-mail me for details (dixmithdottar@attbi.com).

Posted 3:11 PM by Freddie

Our new "Breaking News" section goes online today! Now, not only your trusted web master, but also your president, activity committee chair, and shore dive coordinator will be making regular contributions to these pages. I invite anyone else with a regulator and spellchecker to get in touch. We could add you to the Froggie News team!"

Posted 3:06 PM by Freddie

4/3 If you know anyone who is troubled by mean spirited lawsuits, and the inanity of the jurisprudence system, I suggest a trip on over to Overlawyered. Depending on your mood, you'll either crack a smile or a tooth filling. The standard and usual disclaimers apply to the previous link, as well as any and all other links you may ever find here or anywhere else: caveat emptor, what you see is what you get, ...bygones.

3/1 Sorry, I only put it in the headlines and the menu. For those of you who blast straight to this section without looking anywhere else (sorry, Dave!): Bill Werner's Boat Dive Survey is now online. Click on over and fill it out, and let our Boat Diving Coordinator know what kind of boat diving you would like hime to coordinate!

2/19 Doug Howard passes along this tragic news: "There will be a memorial service for Peter Reagan this Saturday, 11:30 am, at St. Patrick's Church in Natick. The Church is located on Rte.135, 1 block west of Rte. 27. Peter was about 50 yr. old, a long time member of Metro West. He was one of the most careful and meticulous divers I know. He was diving Little River last dive before heading home. He was last out of the cave, about 200 ft from the entrance. The diver in front of him noticed his light was not flickering as it had been, he turned saw Peter motionless with the reg out of his mouth about 20 ft. behind him. The two divers from the team were able to bring him to the surface where he was transferred to the hosp. Peter was very well known at Metro West. He dove a lot on the cape in high current rips and he was cave certified many years ago. He loved cave diving and went on a cave trip at least every other year. He was well known for his underwater Photography and his wreck research. He is one of the last people you would expect this to happen to."

[Webmaster's Note: We are once again reminded that the sport we have chosen is one that can turn deadly without a moment's notice. Remember each and every one of these incidents when you are planning your next dive. Whether it is a routine jaunt to Back Beach or your first attempt at a new or more challenging skill, prepare for and execute your dive with due respect for the elements of nature and life over which you have no control.]

2/14 We've added a new feature to the web site. Well, that's what we web developers call it. You might call it advertising. There is now banner advertising on the main page of the website. Supposedly, its diver friendly advertising - you may even find some of it interesting or useful, however, we here at the North Shore Frogmen's Club remind you that when you click on a link its anyone's guess who's at the other end, and we take no responsibility for what you may find or do there! Caveat Browser. The good news on the banner, is that in exchange for every two times we show a banner on our page, some scuba related web site somewhere is showing our banner, which looks like this:



Bad news for people thinking about diving in Cuba. All those stories about how it's legal to do it through Canadian companies are bogus. At least, according to the Feds. Several people have come home from their dive trips to find a $7,500 bill from the State Department for doing business with the enemy! Read about it here


1/15 2001 North Shore Frogmen's Photo Contest Winners:

New England - Surface Dive Fun Photography:
1st Place - 'Nubble Lighthouse at Dusk' by Dave Smith
2nd Place - 'Into the Deep' by Dave Smith
3rd Place - 'Tall Ship' by Linda Marshal

New England - Underwater Standard/Wide Photography:
1st Place - 'Gotcha!' by Dave Smith
2nd Place - 'Lumpy Fish' by Daryl Findlay
3rd Place - 'Palmate Sponge with Blood Star' by Dave Smith

New England - Underwater Macro Photography:
1st Place - 'Two intimate Crabs' by Amy Maurer
2nd Place - 'Basket Star' by Amy Maurer
3rd Place - 'Yellow Sea Raven' by Amy Maurer

Cold Water - Surface Dive Fun Photography:
1st Place - 'Pristine waters' by Daryl Findlay
2nd Place - 'Nanimo Kayaker' by Daryl Findlay
3rd Place - 'Barking Lions' by Dale Findlay

Tropical - Surface Dive Fun Photography:
1st Place - 'Basking in the sunlight' by Jennifer Ferrier
2nd Place - 'Dusk in Paradise' by Ralph Arabian
3rd Place - 'Family Comfort' by Jennifer Ferrier

Tropical - Underwater Standard/Wide Photography:
1st Place - 'Seascape' by Roslyn Smith
2nd Place - 'Cruising' by John Ferrier
3rd Place - 'Parrot Fish' by Ralph Arabian
4th Place - 'Caribbean Reef Squid' by Roslyn Smith
5th Place - 'Smiley Moray' by Linda Piehl

Tropical - Underwater Macro Photography:
1st Place - 'Cute BaloonFish' by Daryl Findlay
2nd Place - 'Diamond Blenny' by Roslyn Smith
3rd Place - 'Liquid Lava' by Jennifer Ferrier

Most Unusual Photograph:
1st Place - 'Gotcha!' by Dave Smith
2nd Place - 'Cute BaloonFish' by Daryl Findlay
3rd Place - 'Chicken Man' by by Daryl Findlay


12/14 The 2002 North Shore Frogmen's Club officers have been elected. Daryl Findlay will serve as President, Dave Metrano will be his veep, and Dave Smith and Rich Kinkade will hold over from last year's regime, as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

Also revealed at the annual banquet was the Member of the Year award: Bill Gannett and Rob Falk share that honor for 2001.

If someone would be so kind as to forward a list of the photo contest winners, I would be delighted to list them in this space.